Community Banks Hopeful About Potential Regulatory Changes

Associated Press writer Joyce M. Rosenberg reported recently that, “Community banks and small businesses are optimistic about changes the Trump administration and Congress have promised to laws that tightened supervision of the banking industry after the 2008 financial crisis.

“The number of small, local banks has declined since the Great Recession, a change that advocates feel was intensified by the paperwork the increased oversight entails. That’s disappointing to many small business owners, who find it easier to form relationships with community bank branch managers and bankers than with those at regional or international banks. A community banker can advise them and steer business their way, for example, connecting a company owner with a new accountant.”

The article explained that, “According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the U.S. had 5,521 community banks as of Sept. 30. That’s down more than 25 percent from 7,442 at the end of 2008, when the banking crisis was still in its early days, according to a figure provided by the Independent Community Bankers of America, an industry group. The FDIC has reported nearly 500 bank failures since 2009, most of them small banks. Others have merged to cut costs and stay in business, but many have struggled even as the economy has recovered.

“Industry groups blame increased regulation, including the Dodd-Frank bill passed by Congress in 2010. Last week, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Treasury secretary to review Dodd-Frank and its thousands of regulations. Changes in the law would have to be made by Congress, and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling of Texas has proposed modifying portions that affect smaller banks.

“Dodd-Frank has created additional procedures and paperwork for all banks, but community banks have a harder time meeting the requirements because they have far smaller staffs than regional or national financial institutions, says Paul Merski, the ICBA’s chief economist.”

The AP article added that, “The changes were intended to protect against failures like Lehman Brothers in 2008, and community banks don’t pose a similar threat, the ICBA says. Community banks are likely to have several billions of dollars in assets each, according to the FDIC, while regional banks may have assets in the hundreds of billions of dollars and international banks like Bank of America and Wells Fargo have assets into the trillions. Small business advocates say they’re feeling the reverberations.

“‘The overregulation has caused costs to go through the roof, many banks have been shut down and that has hit small businesses,’ says Javier Palomarez, president of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.”